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Queensland Greens give evidence to Crime and Corruption Commission on ways to clean up local government

Monday, May 1, 2017

At today’s hearings of the Crime and Corruption Commission into the conduct of local government elections, the Queensland Greens will renew their call for a cap on election campaign donations and expenditure, and a ban on donations from property developers, gambling and alcohol interests.

The Greens Convenor, Andrew Bartlett, said caps and controls on campaign spending and donations was the most obvious way to reduce the corrupting influence of big money and vested interests.

“These are already in place in other jurisdictions in Australia, and there is no reason why they could not be implemented in Queensland,” Mr Bartlett said.

“The Greens believe it is particularly important to eliminate the influence of property developer dollars in local government.

“Unfortunately, the term ‘dodgy developer’ has long been synonymous with local government in Queensland going back at least as far as the Bjelke-Petersen era.

“Even though everyone knows the interests and profits of property developers continually get put ahead of the interest of the wider community, very little has been done over the decades to eliminate this.

“All local government candidates should also immediately be required to comply with the newly introduced system of continuous disclosure of political donations, with extra resources being provided to the Electoral Commission of Queensland to cover administrative costs if necessary.

“This would have the significant benefit of all but the most last-minute donations being publicly disclosed in advance of polling day, rather than many months afterwards as is currently the case.”